Gatecoin Exchange Hacked for $2 Million

Summary

On May 09, 2016, cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin was hacked, resulting in the theft of approximately $2 million in cryptocurrencies. Hackers gained access to the exchange’s hot wallets and stole funds.

Attackers

The identity of the hackers who carried out the attack on Gatecoin is unknown.

BTC Wallet:

• 132ymu2ufMP3mDCo9qwKc173PV2Bbm4T2g

ETH Wallets:

• 0x04786aada9deea2150deab7b3b8911c309f5ed90
• 0xc062dceed93087c9112ff7b02d53e928e49cec09
• 0x1342a001544b8b7ae4a5d374e33114c66d78bd5f
• 0xd4914762f9bd566bd0882b71af5439c0476d2ff6

Losses

Gatecoin estimated the losses from the hack to be approximately $2 million. The stolen assets included:

• 185,000 ETH
• 250 BTC

Timeline

• May 09, 2016, 6:14 PM +UTC: Hacker makes a malicious transaction.
• May 14, 2016: Gatecoin reported the hack of its hot wallets and started an investigation.

Security Failure Causes

• Wallet System Vulnerability: The hacker managed to change the system in such a way that the transfers of deposits to ETH bypassed the multi-signature and went directly to the hot wallet during the hacking period.